Og and the Giants (Lost Apocrypha, pp.40-42)
[expansions and supplement by R.A.Kraft]

The section by MRJ on "Og" is somewhat longer than his "Eve," and nicely illustrates
various shortcomings of Lost Apocrypha as well as some of its values
and potential. The "Og" material now requires extensive adjustment, since it
deserves to be part of (or related to) a general section on "the Giants" that
we find so important in the "Enochic" and other ancient Jewish and Christian
(and Muslim) traditions. James knew that there was at least one ancient claim
that there was a Manichaean book on "The Activities of the Giants," but instead
of attempting to discuss it as such, he subsumes it under his "Og" treatment.
Today, we speak unhesitatingly about a "Book of the Giants" associated (most
notably by J. T. Milik) with the Enoch materials from the Dead Sea Scrolls.\1/

\1/See DiTommasio 426f ("On the Book of Giants in Rabbinic and Manichean
sources" -- no specific reference to "Og"), and especially W.B.Henning,
"The Book of Giants," BSOAS 11 [1943-46] 52-74, and J. T. Milik,
The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford: Clarendon
1976). For more recent detailed discussions, see Garcia Martinez "The
Book of Giants" in his Qumran and Apocalyptic 97-115, and John
C. Reeves, Jewish Lore in Manichaean Cosmogony: Studies in the Book of
Giants Traditions (HUCM 14; Cincinnati: HUCPress 1992). The index to
Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews includes an entry for "Giants, see
also Angels, the fallen, Nephilim, and Og" and under "Og," there are about
34 references -- see especially 6.117ff for the detailed notes. Garcia Martinez
hazards a convenient summary of the lost Book of Giants, based on
the identified DSS fragments (110): "it consisted of a summary of the
Book of Watchers ["1 Enoch" 1-36], a detailed description of their
progeny, a distinction between the punishment inflicted on Azazel and that
reserved for Shemihazah, a narrative of some deeds of the giants, prior
to their confinement in prison, and a minute account of the discussions
between Shemihazah and Hahyah that gave way to a double message from Mahaway
to Enoch, in which he begged him to interpret his dream, as well as Enoch's
response in which he rebuked the giants and praised God."

To what MRJ had to say about "OG" in the main text, I have added some supplements
and adjustments in brackets and explanatory notes for the "New (electronic)
James" project. The expanded section probably should be relocated to adjoin
Noah, with a cross reference left in the original sequence. Material for further
details and elaborations is found in the following outline.

With reference to the Og legends, we can see the wheels spinning in the mind
of MRJ, this savant of antique legends, this imaginative creator of ghost stories
and paranatural fictions. We can also sample the frustration of the less-well-instructed
reader attempting to follow the drift of his pregnant conjectures and the attendant
allusions (several of which have been filled out in the revised text).\2/

\2/Nimrod is described as one of the "mighty ones" in Gen 10.8-9
(see also 1 Chron 1.10), and is often identified as a giant (e.g. in Dante)
or as connected with giants in various traditions; the theme of dragons
and floods conjures up discussions of primeval struggles between goddess
Tiamat and Tehom (the deep) in Babylonian cosmogeny, and also of the sea-monster
Leviathan (see Isa 27.1), among other traditions; Deucalion is the Greek
counterpart to biblical Noah, and in Greek tradition the god Apollo slew
the Python-serpent which came from the mud of the deluge of Deucalion. For
a quick impression of the abiding influence of such traditions, internet
searches on google.com are most revealing.

For our "New (electronic) James," the outline for the section/article
dealing with Og thus takes this shape:

Title and coverage (Giants), including biblical contexts and connections
--

A general discussion of the "giants" traditions (Nefilim, Gibborim,
Rephaim, Anakim, etc.), with bibliography and links to available encyclopedic
sources such as the Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=215&letter=G [Giants
article];

Extrabiblical Legends & their transmitters (general,
and also for specific figures such as Og
or Goliath -- see e.g.
http://www.creationdays.dk/biblestudy/Giants-OG%20def.html
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=35&letter=O )

\3/The Enochic (and associated) literature frequently makes reference
to things written on "the heavenly tablets," and the extent
to which such a concept may have influenced the development of "apocalyptic"
traditions deserves closer scrutiny. Whether antiquity knew of any
actual writings by that title, and if so, what their connection to
the Watchers/Giants may have been is not clear.

Amorite king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and was conquered by Moses
and Israel in the battle of Edrei (Num 21.33), sixty fortified cities, with
high walls, gates, and bars, comprising the region of Argob, being taken and
given to the children of Machir, son of Manasseh (Deut 3.13; Josh 13.31). Og
was one of the giants of the remnant of the Rephaim. His iron bedstead in Rabbath,
the capital of Ammon, is described as having been nine cubits in length and
four cubits in breadth (Deut 3.11).

The figure of "Dan'el the Rapha-man" appears in the Canaanite poem,
"The Tale of Aqhat." One scholar has offered the intriguing suggestion
that "Rapha-man" may refer to the legendary giant race of the Middle
East referred to in Hebrew scriptures as the "Rephaim" (Gen 14.5;
Deut. 2.11). Like the Anakim, they are usually reckoned as Rephaim, though the
Moabites called them Emim (Deut 2.20-21). The gigantic King Og of Bashan (Deut
3.11) was the last of the Rephaim, who were also called the Anakim (Num 13.22,
33; Deut 1.28) and the "Nephilim" (Gen 6.4), all of them the children
of the mating of the "sons of god" and mortal women in Genesis (The
Ancient Near East, Vol. 1, edited by James B. Pritchard, translation by H.L.
Ginsberg, p. 118). These gigantic great-great-grandchildren of god should have
been destroyed in the great flood, yet they reappear to fight the Israelites
in the time of David (1 Chr 20), who killed the chief giant, Goliath of Gath
(1 Sam 17.50-51); a separate story claims an Israelite soldier named Elhannon
killed Goliath of Gath (2 Sam 21.19) -- yet another evidence of the varied background
of these traditions even in antiquity.

Og In Rabbinical Literature:

Og was not destroyed at the time of the Flood (Niddah 61a), for, according
to one legend, the waters reached only to his ankles (Midr. Peṭirat Mosheh,
i. 128, in Jellinek, "B. H." ii.). Another tradition states that he fled to
Palestine, where there was no flood (Rashi to Niddah, ad loc.); while,
according to a third legend, he sat on a rung of the ladder outside the ark,
and, after he had sworn to be a slave to Noah and his children, received his
food each day through a hole made in the side of the ark (Pirḳe R. El.
ch. xxiii.). Og was known also as "Ha-Paliṭ" (see Gen. xiv. 13).

It was Og who brought the news to Abraham of the captivity of Lot. This he
did, however, with an evil motive, for he thought that Abraham would seek to
release Lot and would be killed in battle with the great kings, and that he,
Og, would be able to marry the beautiful Sarah (Gen. R. xlii. 12). A long lease
of life was granted him as a reward for informing Abraham, but because of his
sinister motive he was destined to be killed by the descendants of Abraham.
Og was present at the banquet which Abraham gave on the day Isaac was weaned
(comp. Gen. xxi. 8). As Og had always declared that Abraham would beget no children,
the guests teasingly asked him what he had to say now that Abraham had begotten
Isaac, whereupon Og answered that Isaac was no true descendant since he could
kill Isaac with one finger. It was in punishment for this remark, one legend
declares, that he was condemned to live to see a hundred thousand descendants
of Abraham and to be killed in battle against them. (Gen. R. liii. 14). When
Jacob went to Pharaoh and blessed him (Gen. xlvii. 7), Og was present, and the
king said to him: "The grandson of Abraham, who, according to thy words, was
to have no descendants, is now here with seventy of them." As Og cast an evil
eye upon the children of Israel, God foretold that he would fall into their
hands (Deut. R. i. 22).

Death of Og.

During the battle of Edrei (Num 21.33) Og sat on the city wall, his legs, which
were eighteen ells long, reaching down to the ground; Moses did not know what
monster he had before him until God told him that it was Og. Og hurled an entire
mountain against the Israelites, but Moses intercepted it (Deut. R. l.c.).
According to another legend, Og uprooted a mountain three miles long, intending
to destroy all Israel at once by hurling it upon their camp, which was also
three miles in length; but while he was carrying it upon his head a swarm of
locusts burrowed through it, so that it fell round his neck. When he attempted
to throw off this unwieldy necklace long teeth grew from both sides of his mouth
and kept the mountain in place. Thereupon Moses, who was himself ten ells tall,
took an ax of equal length, jumped upward ten ells, so that he could reach Og's
ankles, and thus killed him (Ber. 54b).

Shabbat (151b) and 'Erubin (48a) also indicate that Og was regarded as an unusually
large giant. A legend says that a grave-digger pursued a stag three miles inside
of one of Og's bones without reaching the other end (Niddah 24b). </block
quote JE>

See also the separate paragraph in the entry for "Giants"
by Hirsch and Seligsohn

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=215&letter=G :

Og, King of Bashan. Of all the giants only Og escaped destruction in
the Flood. Noah made a place for him near the lattice door of the ark, through
which (Pirḳe R. El. xxiii.), because Og had sworn to serve Noah and his
descendants for all time, he handed him his food every day. The Talmud (Niddah
61a) sees a reference to this in the word "ha-paliṭ." (Gen. xiv. 13),
"the escaped" fugitive being identified with Og (comp. Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen.
xiv. 13; Deut. iii. 11; see Eliezer). Arabic writers (ṬAbari, i. 193;
and Ibn al-Athir, i. 51) quote this escape of Og as a "Jewish" story ("according
as the people of the Torah fancy"). According to Mohammedan tradition, Og was
a son of Noah's sister, and survived his uncle 1,500 years, being killed by
Moses (see Bemidbar Rabbah to Num. xxi. 34; Tan., Ḥuḳḳat,
ed. Buber, 55; Pseudo-Jonathan to Num. xxi. 34). The story of his death runs
as follows: When Og saw the camp of the Israelites, six parasangs in area, fearing
lest his fate be a repetition of Sihon's he proposed to kill them all at once.
He broke off a mountain and lifted itabove his head to throw it upon the Israelites.
But God sent a worm which bored a hole into the mountain so that it fell upon
Og's neck, his teeth becoming imbedded in it. Moses, taking a mace ten ells
long, beat the ankles of Og until he died (comp. "Sefer ha-Yashar," and Ber.
54b, where ants perforate the mountain). The Arabic historians relate similar
stories (Ṭabari, i. 50 [Zotenberg transl. i. 391]; Ibn al-Athir, i. 137).
Og's height is given by Ḳazwini (i. 449) as 23,330 ells; he lived 3,600
years. The waters of the Flood reached only to about the middle of his body.
In Parḥon's "Maḥberet," s.v. <hb>..,</hb>, as
in Ḳazwini (l.c.), it is a bird, <hb>...</hb>, that
splits the mountain.